Engine startr



July 26, 1932. R. BERTSCHE, JR

ENGINE .STARTER Filed NOV. 26. 1930 3 Sheets-Shut 1 8 a M 8 l 4. 4 z 3)a 8 8 m Q g a 7 0a x 1 l 1/ n h w 1 INVEN O2 4 A ATTORNEYS y 1932. R.BERTSCHE. JR 1,869,088

ENGINE STARTER 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 26, 1930 B2 IfWENTO E afifimonusvs ri July 26, 1932. R. BERTSCHE, JR

ENGINE STARTER Fil ed Nov. 26. 1930 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 HHIHII 50 lllllllllIHHII Patented July 26, 1932 UNITED STATES PATEN'T OFFICE RALPHBERTSCHE, JR., F ANDERSON, INDIANA. ASSIGNOR TO DELCO-REMY CORPORA-TION, OF ANDERSON, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF DELAVARE ENGINE STARTERApplication filed November 26, 19-30. Serial No. 498,347.

This invention relates to apparatus for starting an internal combustionengine, and particularly to the type of apparatus which comprises anelectric motor and means for a connecting the motor with agear of theengine to be started, and including a pinion and provisions whereby thepinion will be automatically demeshed from the engine gear when theengine starts. certain of .10 its aspects the present invention providescertain improvements in the type of engine starter described and claimedin the copending application of John BQDyer, Serial No. 314,809, filedOctober 24, 1928. In the Dyer 15 engine starter, the pinion has a lostmotion driving connection with helical splines provided on the motordriven shaft. A pinion shifter is sli'dable along the shaft and isconnected preferably with the helical spllnes 29 thereof so that axialmovement of the shifter is accompanied by rotation thereof. Connectionsare provided between the shifter and pinion so that the pinion willrotate with the shifter, and these connections provide 25 for relativeaxial movement between the pinion and shifter so that in case motion ofthe pinion into mesh with the engine gear is arrested by the pinionteeth abutting the engine gear teeth, the shifter may continue to 80move axially in order to rotate the pinion into meshing relation withthe engine gear. Axial movement is transmitted from the shifter to thepinion through a spring so that the shifter will be held normally therequired distance away from the pinion and so that the pinion will beyieldingly pressed against the engine gear teeth while being rotated.The pinion shifter is manually operated by a pedal or other suitabledevice which is automatically disconnected from the shifter before theengine starts so that after the engine becomes self-operative, thepinion may be automatically demeshed regardless of the status of thepedal.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, wherein a preferred embodiment of one form of the presentinvention is clearly disclosed.

In the drawings: a

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary view, partly in longitudinal section, of anengine starting apparatus embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional views taken respectively on lines 3-3 and 44of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary, sectional view showing a construction which isalternative to a part of the construction shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of the pinion shifter and partsrotatably sup ported thereby, said sectional view being taken on theline 66 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic View of parts shown in Fig. 1, and shows thecondition of the apparatus at the instant the motor pinion has beenrotated into meshing registration with the gear of the engine.

Fig. 8 is a sectional view on the line 88 of Fig. 7

Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. the condition of the apparatus crankingoperation.

Figs. 10 and 11 are development views of certain parts shown in Figs. 1and 7 respectively, Fig. 10 showing these parts in normal position, andFig. 11 showing the same parts corresponding to the position shown inFig. 12 is a view similar to Fig. 9, showing the starting apparatusafter the engine has become self-operative and before the operator hasreleased the pedal.

Fig. 13 is a view similar to Fig. 12 showing how certain connectionsbetween the operating pedal and the pinion shifter are restored when theoperatorreleased the pedal after the starting operation.

Referring to the drawings, designates the field frame of an electricmotor which is secured to a gear housing 21 adapted to be attached to anengine frame not shown. The frame 20 carries a bearing, not shown, forsupporting the left end of a motor armature shaft 22, and the frame 21provides a bearing 23 for said shaft. The motor circuit is controlled bya switch having a casing 24, a fragment of which is shown in Fig. 1.

7 showing during the The casing 24c encloses contacts, one of which ismovable by a switch plunger 25 normally held in switch-open position bya spring 26. The means for connecting the shaft 22 with the flywheel 30of an engine to be started comprise a pinion 31 and provisions forautomatically causing the pinion to be de meshed from the gear 30 whenthe engine starts. These provisions result from employing helicalsplines 32 on the shaft 22 for driving the pinion 31. On referring toFig. 4, it will be noted that the internal helical splines 33 of pinion31 are substantially narrower than the helical grooves 34 between thesplines 32 of the shaft 22. This construction provides what isdesignated a lost motion helical spline connection between the shaft andpinion. Normally the splines of the pinion are spaced from the drivingside of the splines of the shaft and are normally maintained inengagement with the demeshing sides of the splines of the shaft. Thisnormal relation between the pinion and shaft will be described whendescribing the pinion shifter.

The pinion shifter 37 is a tubular body having internal splines whichcooperate with the splines of the shaft with relatively little lostmotion. Therefore, axial movement of the shifter along the shaft will beaccompanied by rotary motion of the shifter. Rotary motion of theshifter is imparted to the pinion 31 by providing the pinion with atubular extension 35 having diametrically opposite grooves 36, eachreceiving a tang 37 a extending from the shifter 37. Motion is impartedfrom the shifter 37 axially to the pinion 31 by a spring 38 encirclingthe shaft 22 and located between the shifter 37 and the pinion 31. Thusit will be seen that motion of the shifter 37 axially toward the gear 30will cause the pinion 31 to he yieldingly urged toward the gear and incase of gear tooth abutment, the pinion 31 will be yieldingly pressed bythe spring 38 against the gear while the shifter 37 continues to moveaxially along the shaft in order to rotate the pinion into meshingregistration with the engine gear. It is desirable that the pinion beyieldingly pressed against the engine gear while being rotated for thereason that a yielding pressure will permit the pinion to recede alongthe shaft slightly while being rotated in engagement with the end faceof a gear tooth. If the pinion were not permitted to recede slightly itmight become interlocked with the engine gear due to the engagement ofroughened surfaces at the ends of the abutting pinion and gear teeth.

The spring 38 is normally in a state of compression as shown in Fig. 7and the means for preventing separation of the pinion from the shifterto a greater extent than shown in Fig. 1, includes a motor shaft itself.It will be noted that the spring 38 tends to urge the shifter 37 axiallytoward the left and the pinion 31 axially toward the right as viewed inthe drawings. Due to the connection between the shifter and pinionprovided by the tangs 37a and grooved tubular extension 36, relativeendwise movement between the pinion and shifter can take place onlyaxially of the shaft. Therefore, the helical splines 32 of the shaftcooperate with the helical splines of the shifter and pinion to limitseparation of these two elements. parent from Fig. 10 that the springs38 tend to move the helical splines 37?) 0f the shifter 37 only in anaxial direction until they engage one side of the shaft splines 32. Thespring 38 urges the splines 33 of the pinion only in an axial directionuntil they engage the demeshed sides of the splines 32 of the shaft.Therefore, no other means are required to limit separation of the pinionand shifter while these elements are mounted upon the shaft.

The shifter splines 37?) are normally yieldingly pressed againstportions 32a of the shaft splines, which portions are inclined at asmaller angle to the shaft axis than other portions of the splines. Thisconstruction provides means for locking the pinion 31 to the shaft 22 insuch a way that it cannot be moved toward the engine gear unless theshifter 37 be moved toward the engine gear. It is apparent from Fig. 10that, if one were to take hold of the pinion 31 and pull it toward theright, resistance would be offered immediately due to the fact that theshifter and pinion are so connected that one cannot be moved helicallywithout moving the other and that movement of the pinion splines 33helically along a shaft spline portion of one lead or pitch cannot takeplace while the splines 37?) of the shifter attempt to move along ashaft spline portion of a different pitch. In other words, it isapparent that if one' were to attempt to slide the pinion splines33along the shaft splines 32 toward the right as viewed in Fig. 10,these pinion splines will become tightly wedged against the shaftsplines due to the fact that the shifter splines 37?), while engagingthe shaft splined portion 32a, will prevent rotary motion of the pinion.Therefore, while the shifter 37 remains in normal position, the pinionwill not drift accidentally into mesh with the engine gear.

The manually operable means for actuating the pinion shifter 37 includesa lever 10 adapted to be operated by a pedal not shown and pivoted upona stud 11 attached by a nut 42 to the gear housing 21 as shown in Fig.2. The lever 40 is normally maintained in the position shown in Fig. 1by a'spring having its intermediate portion 43 coiled around the stud4:1 and having end portions 4.4 and 15 engaging respectively the housing21 and the lever 40. The spring 43 is so biased as to urge the lever 40in a clockwise It is apsufiicient to cause its teeth to be registereddirection. The lever 40 has .a surface 40a adapted to engage the switchplunger 25.

Motion is transmitted from the lever 40 to the shifter 37 by deviceswhich are disconnectible in response to the operation of the starterwhile cranking the engine.

These devices include a stud 50 which is received by a notch 51 formedin the lower end of the lever 4:0. As shown inFig. 6, the stud 50 isattached to a sleeve 52 rotatable upon the hub 370 of the shifter 3? andconfined between a flange 37d and a shoulder 376 of the shifter. Thesleeve 52 is limited in its rotary movement due to the fact that thestud 50 extends through a :slot 53in a lever 54 which is pivotallysupported by the hub 40a of the lever 40. The notch 51 is de fined inpart by an edge surface 60 engageable with the stud 50 for the purposeof moving the shifter 37. The notch 51 is defined in part by a cammingedge surface 61 for a purpose to be described.

Endwise movement of the pinion 31 to ward the right is arrested by astop collar provided by a wire split ring '80 received by a groove 81inthe shaft 22. The pinion 31 abuts the ring while in engagement with thegear 30 during the engine cranking operation. The end thrust from theshaft 22 is transmitted to the gear housing 21 by plain washer 87 whichengages a finished surface 88 provided by the housing adjacent the leftend of the bearing 23.

The operation of the engine starter is as follows The lever 40 is movedin a counterclockwise direction thereby causing the notch edge surface60 to move toward the right along the shaft 22 to engage the stud 50 inorder to move the sleeve 52 to move in the same direc tion in order tomove the pinion shifter 37 toward the engine gear 30. In case motion ofthe pinion toward the right is arrested by the engagement of its teethwith the teeth of the gear, continued counterclockwise movement of thelever 40 will cause the pinion shifter 37 to move in a helical pathabout the shaft 22 while the pinion 31 is being yieldingly pressed bythe spring 38 against the engine gear. During the movement of the lever40 from the position shown in Fig. 1 to that shown in Fig. 7, the pinionwill be rotated from the position shown in Fig. 4 to the position shownin Fig. 8 and its internal helical splines will be transferred from thedemeshing sides of the shaft splines 32 as shown in Fig. 10 to thedriving sides of the shaft splines as shown in Fig. 11. This amount ofpreliminary rotation of the pinion will be 1 that the shifter splines376 have been moved considerably closer than normal to the pinion 31.Therefore the spring 38 will be consider ably more compressed at theinstant the pinion has been turned for meshing with the engine gear.When this condition is brought about the spring 38 will'be released inorder to cause the pinion. to move forward into mesh with the enginegear. If the lever 4C0 remains fixed during this spring operatedmovement of the pinion, the pinion would move into mesh with the enginegear until its internal splines are: in contact with the demeshing sidesof the shaft splines. By the time the lever 4&0 has been moved into aposition just prior to closing the switch the pinion will have beenrotated until its splines 33 are engaged by the driving sides of theshaft splines 32.

Further movement of the lever 40 in a counterclockwise direction intothe position shown in Fig. 9 will cause the surface 40a of the lever 10to push the switch plunger 25 into switch closed position. This willcause the motor to turn the shaft 22 and the pinion 31 to drive theengine gear 30. The driving direction of rotation of the shaft 22 iscounterclockwise as viewed from the right hand end looking in thedirection of arrow in Fig. 1. While the engine is being cranked, theshaft 22 will rotate the sleeve 52 in the same direction by virtue of africtional drag between these parts in order to withdraw the stud 50from the notch 51 as shown in Fig. 9. In this way, the pinion shifter 37is automatically disconnected from the lever 40 before the enginebecomes selfoperative. Hence, automatic demeshment of the pinion 31 maytake place regardless of the failure to release the pedal lever 40 whenthe engine starts as shown in Fig. 12. After the starting operation. theoperator will release the lever 40 to permit the spring 43 to restorethe lever to the position shown in Fig. 1. During clockwise movement ofthe lever 10 toward normal position the notch camming surface 61 carriedby it will engage the stud 50 on the sleeve 52. in order to cause thesleeve to be rotated from the position shown in Fig. 12 to normalposition shown in Fig. 1 so that the notch 51 will again receive thestud 50. Fig. 13 shows the surface 61 about to engage the stud. 50.Therefore it is apparent that the operator must permit the lever 40 tobe returned to position before the starting operation can be repeated.

During the operation of demeshing the pinion, the pinion will be whirledwith considerable force out of mesh with the engine and the pinionshifter will be moved by the pinion until it engages a stop sleeve onthe shaft 22 shown in Fig. 12. Due to its greater momentunn the pinion31 may move further toward the left before coming sion. IV hen themomentum of the whirling pinion is taken up by compression of the spring38, the spring 38 will'rebound to throw the pinion back into normalposition as shown in Fig. 10. There will be no tendency for the shifter37 to rebound after striking the sleeve 100 because it is being followedup by the pinion and compressed spring 38 I11 the normal position of theshifter 37 its splines 376 have a slight amount of lost motion withrespect to the shaft splines 32. Hence, when the shifter 37 is restoredto normal position, its splines 375 will be sure to recede from thepinion splines 33 sufficiently to engage those portions 32a of the shaftsplines which are inclined to the shaft axis at a different angle fromother portions of the shaft splines. In other words, there should besufficient lost motion to insure that the shifter splines 37?) move asubstantial distance toward the left from the junction of the shaftspline portions 32a with portions to the right thereof. Thisconstruction therefore insures that there will always be suchcooperation between the shifter splines 37b and shaft spline portions32a that the pinion 31 will be locked to the shaft until released bymovement of the shifter 37 toward the right.

Instead of using the lever 54; with the slot 53 to limit movement of thestud 50 when moving out of the notch 51 of lever 40, the housing 21 maybe provided with two spaced ribs 7 0 and 71 shown in Fig. 5 on sheet 1of the drawings. These ribs extend parallel to the shaft 22 and providestops for limiting rotary motion of the stud 50 and sleeve 52.

One advantage of the present device is its simplicity and adaptabilityto low cost of manufacture. Another advantage is that the deviceoccupies relatively little space along the motor shaft.

While the form of embodiment of the present invention constitutes a.preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might beadopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow:

h at is claimed is as follows:

1. Engine starting apparatus, comprising, in combination, a motor; ashaft operated thereby; a pinion. driven by the shaft and movable alongthe shaft into mesh with a gear of the engine to be started; a membermovable along the sh aft for shifting the pinion into mesh with theengine gear and rotatively connected with the pinion; means for causingthe shifter to rotate in response to movement of the shifter along theshaft; and manually operable means for moving the shifter along theshaft, and comprising a sleeve supported by the shaft and frictionallyrotatively connected therewith, a pin extend-- ing from the sleeve, anactuator having a partmovable along the shaft and provided with a recessfor receiving the pin, said recess being so shaped as to provide asurface normally in the path of movement of the pin along the shaft, butso as to be relieved of the pin by partial rotation of the sleeve withthe shaft, means limiting rotation of the pin away from the recess, andmeans operated by return movement of the actuator for restoring thenormal position of the pin with respect to the recess.

2. Engine starting apparatus, comprising, in combination, a motor; ashaft having helical splines; a pinion driven by the shaft and movablealong the shaft into mesh with a gear of the engine to be started; apinion shifter connected with the helical splines of the shaft wherebyaxial movement of the shifter is accompanied by rotary movement; alongitudinal spline connection between the pinion and shifter permittingrelative axial movement between them while the pinion and shifter remainrotatively connected; a spring for urging the pinion and shifter apart;means limiting separation of the pinion from the shifter; and manuallyoperable means for moving the shifter along the shaft, and comprising asleeve suppor ed by the shaft and frictionally, rotatively connectedtherewith, a pin extending from the sleeve, an actuator having a partmovable along the shaft and provided with a recess for receiving thepin, said recess being so shaped as to provide a surface normally in thepath of movement of the pin along the shaft, but so as to be relieved ofthe pin by partial rotation of the sleeve with the shaft, means limitingrotation of the pin away from the recess, and means operated by returnmovement of the actuator for restoring the normal position of the pinwith respect to the recess.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 in which the manually operable sleeveis mounted upon the shifter and is frictionally rotatively connectedtherewith.

In testimony whereof I hereto affix my signature.

RALPH BERTSCHE, JR.

